A 30-year-old father who had been missing after mudslides cascaded through Montecito earlier this week has been identified as one of the dead.

Residents of a town ravaged by mudslides in southern California have been ordered to leave while rescuers continue their efforts to find five missing people as the death toll rose to 18.

The number of people missing since mudslides engulfed a Californian town surged to 48 today as hundreds of rescue workers slogged through knee-deep ooze and used long poles to probe for bodies.

The death toll from mudslides that struck Southern California has climbed to 15 as rescue crews searched for people trapped, injured or dead in the onslaught that smashed homes and swept away cars.

At least 13 people have been killed and homes torn from their foundations in flash flooding in southern California.

Sierra Leone's government has urged family members to identify their loved ones' remains following mudslides and floods in the capital which killed more than 300 people.

Rescuers have recovered the body of a woman from the sea of mud that collapsed on to a village in south-eastern Bangladesh and are searching for several other people who are still missing after landslides killed at least 141, officials said.

Ninety-one people have been killed and 110 others are missing amid flooding and torrents of mud unleashed by heavy rains in Sri Lanka.

Muddy water spilled onto streets and into homes in a new round of unusually heavy rains that has killed at least a dozen people in Peru and now threatens flooding in the capital.

A massive storm system stretching from California into Nevada has swollen rivers and caused severe flooding, with hundreds of people evacuated amid the threat of mudslides.

Heavy rain has pounded the central Sri Lankan region where at least three villages have been swallowed up by mountains of mud, forcing soldiers and police to suspend rescue efforts.

Heavy rain has pounded the central Sri Lankan region where at least three villages have been swallowed up by mountains of mud, forcing soldiers and police to suspend rescue efforts.

A roaring avalanche of mud and debris has devastated a mountain town in western Colombia, killing at least 49 people in a flood and mudslide triggered by heavy rains.

A freak mudslide and flood hit one town as the rest of the country enjoyed summery sunshine.

A mile-wide section of hillside tumbled into the river valley below, flattening two dozen homes and killing at least 14.